Physico-chemical processes and materials in space conditions

Experiment Kristallizator

Objective:

• Study of physical processes of protein crystallization to produce the protein monocrystals perfect in structure suitable for X-ray structure analysis.
• Study of biocrystal films of volumetric solution on substrates using the artificial epitaxy effect.
• Development of the new generation hardware and techniques to crystallize a large amount of proteins in the interests of basic and applied biology, medicine, pharmacology and microelectronics.

Tasks:

• Test of techniques in microgravity conditions to produce monocrystals of biological macromolecules and orient film-forming crystallites.
• Test of the hardware, modes and conditions to grow the protein monocrystals and biological films.
• Experimental estimation of efficiency and reliability of the used hardware.
• Test of the experiment timeline to organize the small-batch growing of biocrystals and films in microgravity conditions.

Science Hardware Used:

Kristallizator science hardware Kit consisting of:

Module-1 - a device to grow the protein monocrystals,

Module-3 - a device to grow bidimensional oriented films using the artificial epitaxy effect.

Experiment Results:

• Biocrystallization modules with the experiment results;
• Log sheet with data of the experiment timeline;
• Daily telemetry information of the air temperature in the accommodation area of biocrystallizers.